Editorial: Website’s woes can’t be ignored

Two of the most difficult phrases to speak in the English language are “I’m sorry” and “We messed up.”

President Barack Obama confirmed that Monday with his response to the problems people have encountered trying to sign up for health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

HealthCare.gov went live Oct. 1, and those who attempted to access it and purchase coverage through its signature exchanges were greeted with crashes, slowdowns and timeouts. Some who got in made it almost through the process before their luck ran out and their registration didn’t take.

The problems haven’t disappeared, to the White House’s consternation, which prompted Obama’s appearance Monday at a staged event in the White House Rose Garden, in front of a group of supporters of the health-care reform package that colloquially bears his name.

Obama said there would be no “excuses” or “sugar-coating” of what’s happened. He said, “Nobody is more frustrated than me,” and insisted the website problems would be solved.

That was it, other than a strong defense of Obama-care’s merits. This president certainly is no Harry Truman as far as where the buck stops.

He’s probably right that the problems will be fixed. The White House has unleashed an army of technical experts from both the governmental and private sectors to straighten the website out, while adding people at Obama-care call centers to give people offline options for signing up.

That doesn’t erase the question of why the portal to the singular accomplishment Obama hopes will anchor his legacy in the history books wasn’t ready to go on Oct. 1.

The early spin was that the website was simply overwhelmed by the number of people seeking insurance. It turns out there were systems structure, software and computer code issues, some of which had manifested themselves before the rollout. Should anyone really be surprised to see problems with something that’s launched with fingers and toes tightly crossed?

Obama-care backers have said this is no big deal, that there were similar startup issues with other major social programs such as Medicare. That’s true, but the technological landscape is different and there are many more resources available in 2013 than there were in 1966. Why was the army of technical experts not brought in over the summer, if not earlier, to get this right?

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius will testify about the situation next week before a congressional committee after initially balking. For Obama, her and other White House personnel to say “I’m sorry” and “We messed up” won’t undo any of what’s happened. It won’t restore the time people have lost on HealthCare.gov. It’s not likely to change people’s minds on Obama-care itself.

However, it might signal a new direction for this administration — a willingness to take responsibility for its actions when they don’t work as planned.

This editorial first appeared in the Gadsden Times, a Halifax Media Group newspaper in Alabama.